Ibanez S470

i have an orange ibanez S470 which has 22 frets. I was quite impressed with the standard pickups and have personally no reason to change them. It is also equipped with the super smooth ZR trem, which goes very well with the nice sleek body and the wizard 2 neck. the pickups are in a HSH configuration, which i don't really like because i find the middle pickup sometimes gets in the way of my pick. It has 1 volume knob and 1 tone knob. the hard ware is sort of a black chrome and i like it. there were no extras with the guitar.

the sound is awsome and you can get any sound you want you out of it. as i said the stock pickups are good enough me at the moment but i might change them in the near future with some di'marzios. I use a boss ME-50 and a peavy combo which go well together. i mostly play rock, such as yngwie or randy rhoads and the guitar suits that style very well. so a thumbs up for sound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the standard set up was fine and the action was just to my taste. the pickups were all alined very neatly. the trem wasn't as smooth as it was ment to be but a bit of oil and some hard use sorted the problem. the paint contains no flaws and everything was in the proper place.

this guitar will most definetly withstand live playing and the hardware is built to last. the strap buttons are solid and would forget about taking a backup guitar to a gig. the paint is thickly slapped on so it will definetly last.

never dealt with ibanez

this guitar was a fab buy and would certainly buy it again. if anybody stole it i would go and buy another one straight away. my favourite feature is either the wizard neck or the new ZR trem. i also own an old black and red marlin guitar (which is supposed to be quite rare). i am also thinking about buying a jackson RR5 in the black and white pinstripes finish. but i would never think to replace my trusty S470.

I own the ibanez s470ol which was manufactured in 1994 i believe looking at the catalogue from that year. it's a 22 fretter with the same features as are mentioned here by other reviewers.

When i bought the thing it sounded GREAT i mean so so fat and warm.

the guitar was set up at the factory like a dream for all i know but unfortunately my dealer screwed with it and ruined what could have been a beautiful guitar. unfortunately i was the mug to buy it.

this guitar is so useless to play live because if you ever snap a string it will give you a heart attack. The thing takes HOURS to set up and stay solid. The actual build is fantastic in that the guitar feels really tough, but with regard to tuning and intonation - the thing feels as if its on a knife edge.:)

ever try to find a dealer near you??!

i've been playing years and this thing is a piece of sh++. i loved it the minute i played it but the amount of hours i have spent just tuning it and intonating it and wondering why it's not playing right has driven me to hate the bastard. note to ibanez - dont EVER make intonation this difficult ever again. I would like to extend my hand in a welcoming gesture to the guy who sold me this and then kick him square in the knackers.

2004 Ibanez S470 made in Korea. 22 frets, slim Saber body, H/S/H Powersound pickup config with 5-way switching (tapped in pos. 2 and 4), one volume and one tone. Mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood board with jumbo frets and little wavy inlays, locking nut, and the ZR tremolo with a ball-bearing pivot and return-to-zero system. All hardware is Cosmo black, so they call it. The color is a putrid-yet-sparkly satin color Ibanez calls Deep Voilet flat. It's very ugly and initially threatening to the player's masculinity, but grows on ya after a while. A little.

The first thing I did was remove the zero-point system thingie from the trem. It was easy and took about 30 seconds. I normally play big, fat, heavy mahogany guitars with hard tails. I bought this specifically as a shredder, and the last thing I wanted was the zero-point system killing my stupid 80s guitar tricks. No, I wanted this thing to flutter like a butterfly with a head full of acid and scream like a cat with its tail in a meat grinder.

Stock, there's not much to write home about. The Powersound pickups aren't horrible but they certainly aren't good. I replaced the offending components with a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the bridge, and a Breed neck in the...neck. That gave this little axe the extra juice in the flesh balloon that I was after. I left the center pickup alone. I didn't buy the guitar for single-coil sounds - I have a Strat for that.

It's pretty much exactly what you expect from a thin-necked, trem-equipped guitar. A little thin-sounding, a bit light in the chunk /thunk department, and with pretty lousy natural sustain. But for shredding, its great. Harmonics pop out everywhere (even unplugged), it is articulate for speedy single-note runs, the playability is excellent, and then there's the ZR trem...wow, what a trem. Flutters like mad, dive bombs and other stupid whammy tricks are easy fare, and the smoothness and tuning stability is absolutely unbeatable. There are also no knife edges to wear out.

What can I say, it's a great shredder and that is what I bought it for. For the electric guitar world in general, I'll rate it a 6 (and that's being pretty nice), but for a shredder I'll give it a 10. Let's see, that makes...

Korea does great work these days. By and large, the fit and finish are excellent. The paint is ugly but well applied, the neck pocket is super-tight, the inlays are perfectly clean with no filler, the woods are of great quality, and the hardware is all very good high-quality stuff. The only problem? The trem doesn't sit centered in the route. It makes no difference, as the string alignment over the pickups and neck is fine, but it looks a little cheap. Apparently, the route itself is off center but the trem is properly aligned. It could be worse, but in this day and age I'd expect it to be cleaner.

Everything is solid and of good quality. In spite of the slim body, I'm sure it could take a pretty rigorous beating and regular gigging with no problems. Ibanez has a pretty good reputation here.

I won't rate it since I haven't dealt with them, but I'm willing to bet they are about as reponsive as Catherine Zeta-Jones being picked up by...you. Don't kid yourself, that's not very responsive. They say on guitar hang tag that they consider themselves a small, family-atmosphere company. Mmm-Hmm, and last night I was visited by a matzo ball and a potato pancake with a message from God.

For what it is and what I bought it for (a shredder), I can't help but rate it highly. I would definitely buy another, but only if I could get it for the same price. I think the original price on these was around $450-500 street, which for me personally is too much to pay for a guitar just to mess around with when I want to forget about my balding scalp, protruding belly, and hairy back and revisit the the 80s for a while. I have several truly great USA guitars that will always be my main guitars, and I don't expect this one to equal them, but it is a great shreddder.

S1675FM Prestige. (The only differences between the S1675 and S470 are cosmetic. They have the same neck and hardware.) ZR trem bridge, wizard 2 neck, torquoise trans burst FM finish, mahogany woodgrain headstock with pearloid "Ibanez Prestige" logo, pearloid inlay at 12th fret, bound fingerboard and headstock.

I pretty much only play rock, and occasionally a bit of blues so Im not one whos gonna dis the quality of the pu's. Ive been playing for ten years and even though Ive had usa strats and les pauls, I cant complain about the sounds this guitar offers. Ok it might not sustain like a les paul, but to be honest who gives a shit.It does the job. Has to be mentioned that The only time I use effects is in a sequencer when Im recording. So when Ime playing and jamming I actually forget that Ive got nothing going on to help the sound. Now that says something about the sound right there!

Straight off the rack this guitar replaced my notion that a les pauls neck is the most comfortable around. Not any more mr les paul.This is quite simply the most comfortable neck I have ever played on. Nuff said. Mine's the flame top torquoise trans burst model and the finish is beautiful, no flaws, nothing.

Slim, sexy and solid as a rock. That mahogany body really makes you think the guitar was designed just for you, and of course it helps create a pretty damned good overall tone as well.

Never needed them. Sign of a good factory set-up as far as Im concerned.

I've been playing this guitar in the recording studio and live now for about a year. I have quite simply never had a problem with it. The ZR trem unit hasn't gone out of tune (and I do give it some abuse), the neck is the smoothest I've ever played, the pu's are perfectly adequate for 99 percent of guitar genres, (dont listen to the connosiors, they're just perfectionists and the audience generally aren't, and the guitar looks great. I'me getting another one soon as backup. Couldn't reccomend this axe highly enough. Well worth its cost.

1996 model, S-series body is thinner than current models, HSH pickup arrangement with AH2 bridge, AH1 neck, AS1 middle... Floyd bridge, locking nut, 5 way switch, master volume and tone controls.

My wife says it's purple, but I prefer to think of it as it royal blue...

This is supposed to be a shredder, but if you block the trem and lower the pickups slightly out of their optimal range, it becomes one SWEET sounding guitar with tonal textures you might expect from a jazz guitar. I traded for it intending just to have fun, but stumbled upon the pickup settings by accident and I went off in a totally different tangent with it. I've never gone back...

I don't have any idea how it came from the factory and I adjusted the action after blocking the trem anyway. It sets up well and the frets and fretboard don't cause any buzzes. The paint and woodwork seem first rate. I'll give it a high score for the possibility of how it can be set up.

I only play and record at home, so my guitars aren't put through any duress, but this Ibanez seems well enough made that I'd gig with it if I still gigged at all.

For the 3 months I've had it, it hasn't given me the first problem and it IS an 8 year old guitar with all original parts, so I guess it deserves a high score for reliability.

No experience, but I've heard horror stories of people trying to deal with Hoshino.

I've played for 35 years, just as a hobby. I play mostly country and blues with some Southern rock or oldies thrown in. This Ibanez gets used mostly as a strumming rhythm guitar, background tones for other guitars that play leads. Otherwise, it just gets used for fun because it's so easy to play. I liked it enough to buy another new S Series Ibanez with HSS pickups.

i think it was made in about 94 but im not sure as i got it about 2 years ago of a guy from a band called cephas. it has ah1 an ah2 hums an a as1 single. it has 1 volume an 1 tone an a 5 way switch. everything about it plays and feals great the trem holds tuning for months and the neck feels smooth and fast.

this guitar has managed to support every style of music i have thrown at it. i used to play mainly punk and you were able to get that beautifull raw sound out of it especialy when run through my pro co rat. now i mainly use it for emo an funk styles which it handles perfectly. an the single coil makes a great pickup for reggae and ska sounds. and it also handles blues like a dream if this guitar leads itself to anything its blues.

this axe is ultra thin so it sits nicely against your body and has a beautifull low action for those fast solo's. the paint on the guitar is a couple of mm's thick i kno this due to 1 chip that it had from being dropped on the edge of a stage by its privious owner. the pics have a tendency to unscrew but keep an eye on them and its great.

this guitar has never failed me tho i wouldnt gig without a backup because of the floyde rose trem. and the paint jobs tuff as anything.

this guitar is the best axe i have ever played i dunno what u would of got if i didnt buy this an if it got nicked i would go out an replace it straight away tho as the newer model dosnt have the same pic ups i would proberly put in a couple of breeds an a fast track 1

H-S-H config, Floyd Rose bridge, locking nut, 5 way switching, master volume and tone controls, all the rest mentioned above.

I hate the Floyd Rose bridge and blocked it immediately, so I won't count off just because that's my taste, but with sonic qualities this guitar produces, I'll knock off a point because it deserves dual volume and tone controls.

Incredible variance on 5 switch settings without even touching a tone knob. In general, the humbuckers are articulate and slightly brighter than most in the market. The single coil is a great match, being slightly fatter than the center pickup on my Strats.

This guitar is 5 years old and was very well kept. It was mint when I traded for it. I can't comment on the factory setup for this guitar, but I recently bought another Ibanez new and was very satisfied with the setup I received. Somebody is checking things out before they leave. Paint and neck fitting are first rate. Some people complain about the hardware quality of Ibanez guitars, but I don't see why.

I don't gig, just record at home, but if I did gig, I'd never go without a backup, regardless how dependable I thought a guitar was.

I would certainly perform with this guitar if I did it regularly.

No experience, but I've heard stories that Hoshino is hard to communicate with. I don't think I'd try - just go to second market suppliers for parts and not frustrate myself.

This isn't the style of guitar for everyone, but the tonal capabilities will make lots of people who wouldn't look at a shredder guitar stand up and take notice. With the blocked trem, this is worth a LOT more than the price you'd pay for it.

2003 Ibanez S470 BK. Made in Korea. 22 Frets. Pickups are PSNDs in H - S - H configuration. Body is mohogany with maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. The finish on the BK is glossy black, not the flat finish on the S470s. Bridge is the new ZR trem by ibanez. Neck is the Wizard II. Has the wavy line inlays.

I play everything from blues to metal, and so far it's fitting the bill perfectly. The S series is somewhere in between a traditional strat and a total thrash guitar like the RG series. The pickups are ok for stock pickups. They sound better than i thought they would. I mostly play through a V-Amp, and with the 3 pickups, can get a variety of tones. You can get a really nice chunky, slightly overdriven blues sound ala Clapton on the Bluesbreaker album by using the neck humbucker through a clean amp. For pure clean tones the single coil is good. And of course you can get some really nice metal tones on the bridge humbucker. Overall, this guitar sounds great in general. This is my first mohogany guitar, and I can see why people like it, it sounds great.

This guitar was made in Korea, and they did a damn good job. No sloppy work here.

The Wizard II neck is very nice, very fast.

It has the new Floyd Rose-style ZR trem from ibanez, and it rocks! I've never been a big fan of the FR, but this one is nice. Stays in tune for a long time, you really got to work to untune it. It's a lot smoother and more sensitive because it doesn't have a knife-edge. Also, you can do double bends and double-stops without knocking one string out of tune.

Time will tell. Been rock solid so far.

Havn't dealt with Ibanez

Overall, for the money, this guitar is a great deal. It's a very versatile guitar and has some unique tones. I've been playing for about 10 years and have owned a few guitars, my best being a Robin Ranger Custom ($2000 guitar), and the S470 stands up well to it. I really like the thin 'Hog body, it sounds great.

If it were stolen i would go and buy another one pronto. I wish you could get this guitar in a flat black finish instead of glossy. All the other colors are the nice semi-flat finish. If i had the extra money to spend I might spring for the S470DX QM next time for the really nice finish.

Reviewed: 2003 Ibanez model S470, with the deep violet finish, Korean made, I think. It's got a modified strat shape, with the guts accessed through the bottom like a Gibson.
I got a killer deal on this - $325, brand new from Guitar Center, because my local store isn't going to carry the model any longer. Oh well, their loss, my gain. Their mistake. It was their last one, but in absolutely perfect condition. I barely had to adjust the setup at all. Not a scratch on it either. Only thing is, it's not the color I wanted. It's sort of a weird metallic violet/dark blue, depending on the light. Not as bad as it could've been though. The finish is solid, and fingerprint resistant even.
I'd wanted an S470 ever since I saw one over 10 years ago - I thought the thin sleek body was just darn sex-ay. When I saw the new ones with the ZR bridge, especially the ones with the cool "flare orange" finish, I figured it was time to finally get it.
Well, they apparently stopped making the flare orange finish, so I guess maybe it wasn't popular anyway.
This thing has some serious weight - don't let the skinny body full you. You can tell it's mahogany ! The back of the neck sports a satin clear finish, which is the best IMO, and the fingerboard plays unbelievably fast. I had an RG4xx or RG5xx about 10 years ago, I didn't really care for the feel of it all that much.
The fretboard was like a 2 x 4 with speed bumps. This neck is also wide, but it seems to accomodate my hand better for some reason. Maybe because they're not trying to squeeze 24 frets on it. I dunno. It just plays really well, without being too wide or the frets being too big.
This guitar practically plays itself. It is, by far, the "fastest" and easiest playing guitar I have ever owned. Period. I love it ! I got the biggest sh*t eating grin on my face when I got it home and started really playing it. Now I know why all the Major guitar "shredders" and virtuosos play on Wizard and Wizard II necks. This one is a Wizard II.
The new Zero Resistance "tremolo" (I hate that, it's a vibrato, not a tremolo, bridge, -Gee, thanks for creating the eternal confusion on this, Leo !) is sweet. It has a hipshot type "return to zero" mechanism in the back of the guitar where the block is that helps it return to pitch better than a stock Floyd, but even better is that Ibanez has done away with the 2 point fulcrum, which despite usually being case-hardened steel would eventually wear away, with a horizontal hinge type of assembly. It's one of those things that make luthiers slap their foreheads and go, "why didn't I think of that ?".
It might not feel exactly quite as "responsive" as a traditional Floyd Rose to some people, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It feels just fine, I think.
Pickup config is standard humbucker/single coil/humbucker.
If Ibanez offered a choice of HSH or HSS, I'm not really sure which I'd go for - I used to feel that a neck humbucker is just useless mud, but this one sounds really nice for clean, mellow jazz, so I'm not sure which I'd prefer now, honestly.
Some models of this guitar, according to Ibanez, also feature piezo pickups, but I've never seen this anywhere. Ah well, that's what I have my Parker for.
The input jack is very nicely placed on the face of the body at a slight angle, which keeps the cord out of the way yet easily accessible for switching guitars or cables. When you plug in there's a very definite solid "click", and you can tell right there and then that this guitar is very well built.

I play a number of styles, ranging from progressive rock to heavy rock to jazz and fusion, so this guitar suits me very well - for the most part, it is versatile enough that it will very likely be my new main axe, and I could easily use it 75% of the time or more.
I play through a rack setup, a slightly modified Digitech 2112 (with the 2120 chip mod, and some NOS tubes to replace those mushy, lifeless budget Sovteks that it ships with), then through a Mesa 20/20 tube power amp and into my Marshall 1960 4x12 cabinet. The stock sounds on the 2112 pretty much bite, which is a shame because it has the capability to be one badass sounding amp !
The pickups, a HSH type configuration, are not bad at all. They're not fantastic either, but, I manage to pull some very nice harmonics out of the bridge PU. It definitely has some character, in that tt sounds a little more like my Les Paul than my Parker P38, probably due to the mahogany body though. . The neck PU is very good when playing clean and doing some Wes Montgomery/Joe Pass style jazz, and with the right amp settings (your mileage WILL vary), it does a nice impersonation of a semi-hollow. What this guitar can't do, of course, is a good strat impersonation, outside of using the middle single coil pickup. That's very good for those nasal kind of tones, but for a screaming, biting, Hendrix or SRV kind of sound, well, I may look into getting some DiMarzios where I can split the coils. I love DiMarzio Evolutions - thank you Steve Vai !
Lastly, the acoustic tone of this guitar is fantastic, often a good indicator of whether a guitar is going to sound good amplified or not (but not always - Les Paul's sound tinny to me unplugged)
This guitar is the best sounding, acoustically, of any guitar I've heard with the possible exception of my parker, but then, Parkers have an acoustic chamber in them, so that's cheating ! :-)

The guitar required no real setup from me, it played like a dream right off the rack. I tested every string and fret for dead spots before I bought it, and found nothing off. Everything is extremely solid, unbelievably so for the money I paid for it. The S470 will last a lifetime, I have no doubt.
The only problem is with the bottom (heavy) E-string, if you don't finger it carefully, and depress it from directly above, it tends to slide off the fingerboard rather easily, and of course you lose your note. This is a little bit annoying, but not too hard to rectify with a little improvement in playing technique.
I'm not going to comment on pickup height, that's just silly and easily adjustable. Suffice it to say they're fine.

It may be thin, but it's built like a tank. I think it could take anything I throw at it.
The best word to describe it is "solid".
The new ZR bridge has the ability to remain in tune should a E, B, or G string break, so it actually has more dependability than your usual Floyd Rose equipped shredder. I hope not to have to test that out too often though.

No idea.
Unlikely I'd go to Ibanez anyway, I usually work on my own guitars, unless it's something really major.
Warranty is 1 year.

I've been playing for 25 years, I've currently got a Les Paul Studio from '90, a Parker P38, some Yamaha acoustics, and I play through a modified Digitech 2112/Mesa 20/20 and Marshall 4x12 cabinet.
I have an extremely flexible setup, tonewise, and that tends to really showcase a guitar's versatility - or lack thereof.
If I lost this axe or it got stolen, I'd have to get another. Maybe I'd hunt for one with the orange finish, although the pewter looks pretty cool too. I used to have a Japanese made Fender strat, the HRR model with the Floyd, humbucker, etc, it was nice at first but soon refused to stay in tune, the frets wore badly, and though I like strats, I decided it was time to get a guitar that had always intrigued me. I also like the fact that it doesn't have binding around the fingerboard, I hate that.
Two things would make it the perfect guitar: split-coil humbuckers, (easy enough to remedy), and piezo pickups built into the body or bridge somewhere for those acoustic tones. But I'm extremely happy with this guitar.

Bought in 2003, Korean made. 22 jumbo frets, 1 tone, 1 volume, 5 ways selector. H, S ,H config. Ibanez made pickups. Mahogany body, rosewood fret board, stunning. Strat like body style, but much nicer. Floyd-rose stylt bridge 'ZR tremolo'. Locking tuners. Thin neck. No extras came with guitar.

Moving on from a tele squire to this is a big change in sound quality. First off you've got the bridge and neck humbuckers. I would say the bridge pickup is the weaker of the two. Unless you have it completely over-driven it can sound a bit ordinary. Certainly no les paul growl here - im planning on changing it soon. The neck pickup is obviously bassier, but you can get a good clean sound out of it if you want - good for ratm, although I prefer to solo on the bridge pickup, simply because of its extra bite. The single coil is acually not bad. You wont be getting your telecaster twang so much as a clean rich sound. Keep it clean though, -ideal for stairway. Most of the time I play it through a pod xt and into a pair of speakers. Using this you can get most sounds, but you will come up short on your highway to hell solo. All in all very good for the price. There doesn't seem to be a section for playability, the most important the thing here, so ill add it here. Brilliant. The neck is brilliant. Smooth, brilliant to move over. I keep going into shops looking for a second guitar, but there's nothing. Strats are slightly cumbersom by comparison, les pauls, also lacking slighly in finess, although it does make some back up with the feel good factor. Rating this as playability and sound together.

Intonation not quite in, and its a bitch to fix with old floyd sitting there. Pickups arn't at perfect angle now, but i think they were fine when i got it. No flays anywhere on the guitar, beutifully put together. Frets perfect, pickup switch great still, controls still with a good weight behind them - feel like they'll last. Great effort!

I have no reason to doubt it for a live gig. I've had no cutting out or any variation in sound coming out of it. It seems to be built to last. It doesnt seem the lightest guitar so id recomend strap locks - though ive never dropped while playing like a twat. I'd always have a backup with this guitar, and any guitar with a floyd rose, sue to the fact that it takes about 4/5 minutes to change a string - mind you it wont EVER go out of tune. I only use the tuning pegs to tune once a month or so (the rest of the time you use the fine tuners on the bridge). But if strig breakages wern't an issue I'd use it without a backup. Strangly, and largly due the the fact that the strings get clamped in the the bridge, the strings that have broken most are the high E and the D string!?! A bit strange, but since string breakages are rare, i dont really care!

Never used it

I've been playing for 8 years now, im nineteen and this guitar is great. Probably if im thinking with my head id go for a similarly priced Ibanez RG. The floyd is better I think. But the S470 looks better, plays brilliantly, and really rocks. Mine's bright orange so it looks stunning. It is currently my only eletric guitar. I am son to buy a gibson les paul studio, and im going to buy the same bridge pickup as joe satriani so the ibanez. With those to and the pod, theres nothing else you will EVER need. Of course an SG looks interesting, so does that new PRS soapbar...